improvement in cooling systems of nuclear reactors, fusion

摘要

1418319 Thermonuclear fusion apparatus EUROPEAN ATOMIC ENERGY COMMUNITY 21 Aug 1973 [23 Oct 1972] 48736/72 Heading G6P A fusion reactor includes a cooling arrangement comprising heat-pipes 26 whose inner, evaporation regions 27 are disposed within lithium 12 contained in an inner, annular blanket zone 3 and whose outer, condensation regions 28 are disposed in ducts 29 within graphite 19 contained in an outer, annular modulating zone 4, the zones 3, 4 being arranged concentrically and separated by a rigid wall 13; and means to enable heat to be removed from the outer zone 4. The condensation regions are divided into groups 31, 33 by partitions and helium is introduced into one group 31 and, after flowing through the ducts 29 therein, collects in a chamber 32 from whence it flows through ducts 29 in the other group 33 finally to be conducted away by a pipe 34. Tritium, produced in the blanket zone 3, diffuses through the walls of the heat pipes in their evaporation zones 27 and is passed, via tubes 38 connected to the other ends of the heat pipes, to an evacuated chamber 36. The reactor is assembed from a plurality of juxtaposed modules (Fig. 1, not shown) each of which comprises a magnetic field-generating coil (6), lateral corrugated walls 8, 9 an outer shell 5 and a portion of a plasma cavity 2 separated from the blanket zone portion by a flexible wall 7 comprising thin sheets. (14) (Fig. 8, not shown) with sets (15, 16) of mutually perpendicualr corrugations. Each module is in the form of a cellular structure. The wall 7 is connected to the wall 13 by a cellular structure comprising folded metal sheets 17 and the wall 13 is connected toan outer wall 20, which is a welded structure composed of plates (21) (Fig. 6, not shown) intercalated with two sets (22, 23) of corrugated sheets, by a cellular structure (24) which comprises cells (25) (Fig. 5, not shown) each of which is divided into two halves, by the aforementioned partitions, to define, within each half, a respective group 31 or 33 of heat pipe condensation regions. Each module may be shaped so as to provide; in assembly with similar such modules, either a toroidal plasma cavity (as described) or a linear one.